Chapter Appendix A - Recommendations
Section Managing Offers of Foreign Assistance and Inquiries Regarding Affected Foreign Nationals
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Critical Challenge: Managing Offers of Foreign Assistance and Inquiries Regarding Affected Foreign Nationals
Lesson Learned: The Department of State, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, should review and revise policies, plans, and procedures for the management of foreign disaster assistance. In addition, this review should clarify responsibilities and procedures for handling inquiries regarding affected foreign nationals.
Recommendations:
89. DOS should lead the revision of the International Coordination Support Annex to the NRP, clarifying responsibilities of DOS, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), DOD, and other supporting agencies in response to domestic incidents . This revision should begin immediately.
90. Prior to June 1, 2006, DOS and DHS should lead an interagency effort that will quickly develop procedures to review, accept or reject any offers of international assistance for a domestic catastrophic incident. This should include an appropriate mechanism, led by DHS and supported by DOS and Treasury, to receive, disburse, and audit any cash assistance received in support of victim needs. These operating procedures should include:
a. A coordination process among Federal agencies and non-governmental partners to solicit, accept, receive, integrate and distribute foreign assistance;
b. An expedited review process for international aid that addresses both critical needs and legitimate foreign policy objectives;
c. The inclusion of a USAID representative to the Joint Field Office (JFO);
d. The inclusion of a representative from USAID/OFDA on the State Department Task Force and a DOS representative on USAID/OFDA’s Response Management Team to improve interagency coordination; also the addition of a DHS representative to both task forces to provide more efficient information sharing about assistance needs on the ground.
91. DHS should lead an interagency effort to create and routinely update a prioritized list of anticipated disaster needs for foreign assistance and a list of items that cannot be accepted. These lists should be completed before June 1, 2006. These lists would be based upon notional planning scenarios, State/local emergency managers’ anticipated requirements, and current legal impediments on prohibited forms of aid. Once complete, DHS should distribute these lists to all appropriate agencies, to include regulatory agencies, in order to address regulatory barriers in advance.
92. DOS should establish, before June 1, 2006, an interagency process to: determine appropriate uses of international cash donations; to ensure timely use of these funds in a transparent and accountable manner; to meet internal Federal government accounting requirements; and to communicate to donors how their funds were used.
93. Public and Diplomatic Communications during domestic emergencies should both encourage cash donations -- preferably to recognized nonprofit voluntary organizations with relevant experience -- and emphasize that donations of equipment or personnel should address disaster needs. Financial contributions provide emergency managers maximum flexibility to meet requirements in crises and avoid regulatory challenges. In a catastrophe, rapid, proactive communication of requirements reduces the potential for the refusal of assistance. The Department of State should have domestic crisis communications procedures in place before June 1, 2006.
94. The Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security should, before June 1, 2006, jointly develop procedures to ensure that the needs of foreign missions are included in domestic plans for tracking inquires regarding persons who are unaccounted for in a disaster zone.
a. During a crisis, DOS and USAID should provide DHS with personnel who have technical expertise in humanitarian and disaster management issues, to include population displacement.
b. In improving their strategies for providing faster information and assistance to American citizens, Federal, State, and local emergency management officials should include provisions covering the needs of affected foreign nationals. To ensure these provisions meet U.S. legal obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, these officials should work with DOS. DOS in turn should inform foreign missions about these provisions. This should be accomplished through changes to the NRP, and through refinement of agencies’ NRP implementation plans.
95. DHS and DOS should revise the NRP to include DOD and USDA-Food Safety Inspection Service as cooperating agencies to the International Coordination Support Annex. Including DOD more directly in foreign assistance management would leverage existing relationships with partner military establishments and help to ensure that staging areas for the acceptance of foreign aid are preplanned and quickly available.
96. DHS should include DOS and foreign assistance management in domestic interagency training and exercise events. Inclusion in the new National Exercise Program (NEP) should occur before the end of FY06.
97. DHS should provide daily disaster response situational updates through the Secretary of State to all Chiefs of Mission or Chargés d’Affaires. These updates should improve situational awareness and provide information to address host government concerns or questions.
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